The Bet
by alicenotinwonderland
Summary: "If Potter and Evans ever become a couple before we leave school, I'll go on a date with Professor Dumbledore!" The Marauders suspect Ludo Bagman is a cheat after they lose two bets to him. Sirius especially, wants revenge. When Bagman suggests a bet with stakes like that, how can Sirius refuse? It's up to him to get Lily and James together! Join him through some hilarious times!
1. Prologue

**This is for WeasleySeeker's "When they were at Hogwarts" competition**

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

* * *

><p>The tall, powerfully built boy strutted down the corridor. Younger students scurried out of the fifth year's way. Older students ignored him or gave him resentful looks. He was Ludo Bagman, star Beater of the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and already signed on by a major league team. But older students knew him as Ludo Bagman, the guy whom they'd all lost money to; the leader of the Hogwarts betting pool.<p>

"I'm going to kill him," Sirius growled darkly, glaring at Ludo as he strode past, winking and waving genially at several people. Despite his reputation, he was very friendly and popular among the students. He was a nice, amiable boy as long as you didn't owe him money. He made friends readily too. In fact, his only flaw was his obsessive betting. "Bagman conned me," Sirius complained.

"Well it was your own fault, really." Remus looked amused. "I told you that Brain Boosting Biscuits were a load of Thestral dung and they were. Literally."

James sniggered. "Honestly, Padfoot, didn't you know better than to buy anything from Bagman? Why'd you need it anyway? It's only the beginning of the year and besides, it's not like you need help to ace your OWLs."

"It wasn't for me, it was for Wormtail. Thought he could use an early start." Sirius grinned. "I'll admit, it was funny when he turned orange though. But still, my pride's been injured. No one can pull the wool over my eyes."

"Except Bagman."

"Shut up Moony."

James pursed his lips. "Sirius, why did you buy that stuff anyway? What proof did you have that it would actually work?"

"Bagman made a bet with me," answered Sirius. "He told me to slip some of those biscuits into Jerry Duvall's food. If he got an O on his Charms test, I'd have to pay five galleons and buy the lot. If he didn't, Bagman would pay me ten Galleons."

"Jerry Duvall did get an O in the last test. And he's not exactly the brightest wand in the pile either," James observed.

Remus shook his head. "What on earth possessed you to make a bet with Bagman? You know he never loses. I'm pretty sure Thestral dung has nothing to do with it either. Bagman cheated somehow."

"Yeah, and I'm going to find out how," Sirius declared walking up to him. "Hey Bagman!"

Ludo turned around. "Sirius! Hello, mate! Back for more biscuits? I told you they were effective. Say, do you want to take a chance on the Ravenclaw vs. Slytherin chess match tonight? A Galleon on Slytherin perhaps?"

Sirius snorted. "Slytherin winning is as likely as Severus Snape playing Chaser for England."

"Oh don't write them off. I'm betting on them myself. And you know I never lose." Ludo winked. "There's a first time for everything."

Sirius shrugged. "I'm not taking chances. I'll put down five Sickles on Ravenclaw."

"Excellent." Ludo noted down Sirius' name on a long list. "Good luck!"

"Well," said Remus as Sirius returned to the Gryffindor table. "How did it go?"

"I made a new bet. This time he's losing," Sirius replied.

The Marauders sat down in the front row of the benches that had been set up for the chess match. They were right in front of Bagman, knowing that they could easily eavesdrop on him.

He didn't seem to have any magical methods of communication on him. They knew that the players would be thoroughly checked before the match. For once, the Marauders had no clue how Bagman could possibly cheat.

The match began. Like the rest of the spectators, Bagman didn't say a word through the game. Sirius kept looking back but Bagman didn't seem to be making any sort of signals to the Slytherin. He only scribbled on his list occasionally.

Soon enough, the Slytherin leapt to his feet with a yell. "Checkmate!"

The Marauders sat in stunned silence as groans and cheers erupted from the crowd.

"I don't believe it!" Sirius said. "There's no way that wasn't fixed."

"But Bagman didn't make a sound or even eye contact," protested James.

"Hey Sirius, cough up." Bagman patted Sirius' shoulder, his other hand outstretched.

Sirius grumbled as he handed over the money. The four boys stayed until everyone had left. They checked the table, the chairs, chessboard, clocks and even the pieces but there was _no_ sign of tampering. They dragged their feet back upstairs. They suddenly stopped as they heard voices coming from an alcove just ahead.

"Good job, Bagman. Here's your money."

"Thanks. If you ever need any help winning again, contact me." Ludo Bagman walked out of the alcove. His grin slipped a little when he saw the boys but he pulled it back on. "Evening," he said, although he did look a little flustered.

"Okay, we know he cheats on those bets now," Sirius said. The boys had rushed back to the dormitory and were now pacing around.

"We just have to figure out how," agreed Peter.

"Right," said Remus. "I have a plan."

"Hi Ludo." James flashed him a grin. "I was wondering, do you have any more of those Brain Boosting Biscuits?"

"You're in luck, I think I have one last box left," replied Ludo.

"I'm just a little worried Sirius might have been pulling my leg when he said they work though," James said.

"Why don't we make a bet?" Ludo's eyes lit up. "We'll test the biscuits on someone. If they work, you pay me 10 Galleons. If they don't, I'll double that amount."

"That sounds okay. Whom do you suggest for the test subject?" James asked.

"How about Jerry Duvall? I hear he's the worst in your class," suggested Bagman.

"Fine," James said. "We have a deal."

He made sure that Ludo slipped some biscuit crumbs into Duvall's food the next morning at breakfast. They had a Potions test that day. James and Sirius sat down on either side of Jerry, sneaking glances at his paper. He wrote down the first question on his paper and paused as if thinking of the answer.

Suddenly, writing appeared on one of his spare sheets of parchment. James and Sirius gave each other significant glances. After the test, the Marauders huddled outside.

"Bagman's using a Protean charm. He must have been writing instructions to that Slytherin yesterday too. It must have been appearing on his hand or something," Sirius said.

"Well if he wants to cheat, then so will we," James decided.

That night, all four of them sneaked into Slughorn's office. "The papers are right on his desk," whispered Peter.

They quickly changed Jerry's answers to wrong ones and slipped out again but not before leaving a little trap for Bagman in case he showed up. They made sure the spells would wear off before the morning so Slughorn wouldn't be affected.

Ludo, at that very moment, was indeed creeping down to Slughorn's office to make sure James didn't tamper with the papers. He froze in his tracks as the pot-bellied silhouette suddenly appeared around the corner.

"Crystallized pineapple ...office ... where are my keys..." Slughorn was muttering under his breath, clearly out for a midnight snack.

Ludo grinned. From his hiding place, he could see the outline of a little Trip Jinx the Marauders had undoubtedly left for him there. He raised his wand and added a few spells of his own.

Two floors up, James and the others jumped out of their skins as loud wailing and the crackling of fireworks split the silence. The noise was coming from downstairs - from the dungeons they'd just left. Over the wailing, "The Marauders," announced a loud booming voice. Fireworks came whistling out of the stairs chased by an angry, soot-covered Slughorn. "The Marauders," the fireworks spelled out right above the four stunned boys who had left the Invisibility Cloak upstairs since they'd had the map.

"Detention for the rest of the week and 50 points from Gryffindor!" Ludo heard Slughorn shout from two floors above him. He slipped into the Potions master's office, changed Jerry's answers back to the way he wanted and hurried out before Slughorn came back.

Ludo may have been rather innocent, naive and easily trusting of others but when it came to betting, he could show some real brains and sneakiness. They were characteristics that showed up only when he gambled; at all other times, he was a nice, charming person to be with.

The next afternoon, the Marauders turned up for lunch looking extremely disgruntled. "James!" Ludo grinned as he strode up to them. "I heard Jerry got an 'O' on his test. You owe me money."

"You cheated," James snapped.

Ludo raised an eyebrow. "And your proof for that?" He did look a little uncomfortable lying, but the Marauders didn't have any proof and they knew it.

"Well if you can't prove it, pay up," Ludo shrugged.

James grumbled as he handed over the money.

"Just a tip boys," Ludo grinned. "You should make your own luck sometimes."

The four boys glared at Bagman as he returned to his table. "Maybe we should have bet on whether Lily would go out with Prongs or not. Since it'll never happen, we would have won," Peter muttered.

James hit him.

"I'm sure Bagman will lose a bet someday. He'll get a taste of his own medicine," Remus said.

James smiled, "I'll bet on that."

* * *

><p><strong>I hope you liked it! Please review :)<strong>


	2. Routine is Boring

**So, I'm finally getting down to this story after about a year! I just want to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapters and I hope I see lots of new readers! **

**Disclaimer for the whole story : I don't own HP**

* * *

><p>There is something comfortable about routine. Every morning is a new day and the familiar sights, sounds and smells that are present each day, without fail, are what get us going. Imagine if everything changed, every morning. We wouldn't know where to start or what do. Routine is not boring, it's an assurance that you have made it this far in your life doing certain things the same way every day and hence, there's no reason why you shouldn't get through the rest of life too.<p>

This Monday morning was turning out to be as ordinary as any other. I woke up to the sounds of James brushing his teeth and Remus trying to wake Peter as they do every Monday. My clothes felt the same; my socks were under my bed just as they always were. The common room was as noisy as usual and the Great Hall smelled like toast and fruits like it did at the beginning of every week. The chatter was normal as was the rushing sound of the owls swooping in with the morning post and the rustling of newspapers. Yet, this Monday morning seemed different. There was something missing.

"POTTER!"

Ah, there it was.

Lily Evans had finally come down for the first yelling match of the week. I personally believe that she'd feel disturbed and uncomfortable all day if she didn't scream at my best mate first thing in the week. That's what I mean about routine being assuring and comfortable. You just can't shake the feeling that something's wrong if you couldn't find a particular quill or wear a particular shirt that you always use on a particular day. Similarly, Lily grew quite restless if she didn't have her Monday morning shout at James. Even if it was over the pettiest matter, it was part of her routine, and it had become part of everyone else's routines too. I'm prepared to bet that the students would prepare for the apocalypse if she didn't shout at James in the morning.

Little did I know that in just twelve hours, I would be setting off a chain of events that would mess up everyone's idea of normalcy.

"You are such an idiot!" Oh I'd forgotten about Evans. She'd marched right up to us now and was screaming at the top of her lungs. "What possessed you to tie all my shoelaces together and in multiple, tight knots?"

Remus tried and failed to suppress a smile. James flashed Lily what he obviously thought was a winning smirk. "Just a little challenge to keep you on your toes, Evans." He looked interested. "How _did_ you get all those knots undone so soon?"

"It's none of your business! Listen up, Potter, this is OWL year. I plan on studying hard and doing well. If it was any other year, I wouldn't care what you did, but this year, I don't want any distractions, all right? It's only October and I have to put up with you for eight more months and I would really appreciate it if you LEFT ME ALONE! Stay away from my things and out of the girls' dorms, Potter. And I can't believe you finished all the cornflakes too!" Lily snapped, leaning over and pushing his cereal bowl away. See what I mean about fighting over petty things?

"So I distract you then?" James replied, winking at her. Typical that that was all he got out of her tirade.

She made a strangling gesture in the air and a funnier noise in her throat and stalked off. James immediately leaned back to watch her go. "Hey Evans," he called loudly. "Those heels are too hot to be part of the school uniform," he said when he caught a glimpse of the high strappy heels she was having trouble walking in. Lily made a rude hand gesture over her shoulder, not even bothering to look back. He sighed dreamily. "She's really amazing when she gets all passionate like that."

"She was passionate about her OWLs, not about you," Remus pointed out. "Why do you like getting her all riled up on Mondays? It must ruin her whole week."

"Nah, she's happy to shout at James in the morning. It's part of her routine," I said wisely.

"Besides, I'll be sure that she notices me first thing in the week," James said. He gazed up the table to where Lily Evans was sitting currently. She was smiling and winking at her friends. She suddenly looked over to where we were sitting and threw James a glare before turning her back firmly on him.

Slightly crestfallen, James finally managed to tear his eyes away from the girl. He turned back to his breakfast just in time to see it blow up in his face. Milk and cereal flew everywhere. James' head was covered with it. He wiped the mess out of his glasses as everyone around him burst into laughter at the sight. "Sirius, you idiot!" he yelled, smacking me on the head. "I'm going to throttle you! No, better yet, I'll cut all your hair off. Or I'll – "

"It wasn't me! I'm sorry, mate, but it's just too hard to take you seriously when you've got cornflakes hanging over your ears!" I interrupted, laughing at the comical sight that was James Potter.

He immediately grabbed a napkin. "Where? Do I look stupid?" His eyes immediately flickered to where Lily was sitting, suppressing a smile.

"You always look stupid, I'm sure Evans is quite used to that, you don't have to check if she saw you now," I commented casually before I looked over at Evans too. She (along with most people in the vicinity) was laughing at James' plight now. She winked at me suddenly, a cheeky, mischievous wink. I frowned slightly and turned back to the others. Remus used James' spoon to fish out a very tiny firecracker from the bottom of the now empty cereal bowl while he wiped himself off with a napkin. "Wonder how that got in there," Remus said.

I turned back to Lily, remembering how she'd leaned over and pushed James' bowl away, and raised my eyebrows. She shrugged nonchalantly and smirked before turning back to her friends.

"Yes, Moony, I decided to put a cracker in my food just to make things more exciting. I thought I'd see if I could eat everything before it blew." James' sarcastic words drew me back to my friends.

"Remember that time you put itching powder in your pants to see if you could run down the stairs to the fifth floor faster?" Peter commented. "There's no telling what you'd do in your moments of insanity."

"Exactly, and you have quite a few of those too. Sirius, why are you smiling like that?" Remus added.

"Like what?" I asked, surprised.

"Like you know something! You did it, didn't you?" James demanded.

"No of course not! Mate, do you really think I'd waste _my_ breakfast time – one of those precious hours in the day when I get to eat absolutely delicious food – indulging in such a childish prank_?_ Now if it were Snivelly's bowl of cereal, I might have," I answered.

"'Indulging in such a childish prank'?" Remus raised an eyebrow. "It wasn't childish when you decided to slip those fanged geraniums into my salad last week, was it?"

"You said you wanted to liven up the salad a bit," Sirius replied cheekily.

James had been looking thoughtful. "You have a point there," he told Sirius. He shrugged. "Ah well, at least it made Monday morning less boring,"

"Even if Lily saw you looking stupid?" Remus asked slyly.

"She didn't, she was talking to her friends, I saw her! It doesn't matter anyway, why should I care if she saw me?"

I smiled again. Lily Evans hadn't just seen that, she'd _done_ that to him. That crafty little minx must have slipped that cracker into his bowl when she pushed it. I liked that girl. She was serious about things like schoolwork and all but she had a sense of humour. In fact, I couldn't understand why she disliked James so much. He was a little arrogant, but he was a nice guy and he definitely had a sense of humour. They should have been able to get along just fine.

"Doesn't it? Why are you getting so riled up then?" Remus questioned, smirking at James.

"I'm not – that's just – er – I have a reputation. Sirius, you don't think anyone ("Lily," coughed Remus) thought I looked _too _silly, do you?" James asked me anxiously, pausing in his argument with Remus.

I slung an arm around him. "Mate, I bet she thought you looked dashing. Now hurry up or we'll be late for Potions." It's always better to make a good impression on the teachers for the first couple of months. It lulls them into thinking that we may have reformed over the summer.

We made our way down to the dungeons, teasing James and watching him trying to be all suave about his little crush. We were almost at the classroom when someone pushed between us.

"Oi Snivellus! Can't you see where you're going?" James raised his wand and shot a Trip Jinx at the greasy haired boy who had shoved us, sending him crashing to the floor.

"James, just leave it," Remus said softly, trying to pull James away but we weren't having that.

Snape got to his feet, one hand clenched in his pocket. "Ah come on, Prongs," I said, "you know how eager he is to get to his favourite class and see his favourite teacher."

"You mean the only class he's good at?" James sniggered.

"That's right. How did you get so good at Potions anyway, Snivelly? Help your Mum out in the kitchen, do you? Bring out your feminine side and help her cook? Is that how you got so good at mixing a bunch of ingredients?" I taunted.

"Sirius," Remus moaned, still trying to get us away from the scene.

"At least I have a Mum who likes me, Black," Snape spat.

James and I started forward, wands outstretched while Peter cheered us on. James hit him with a Leg-Locker Curse and I raised my wand when –

"Stop it!" Lily hurried out of the classroom and stood between us and Snape. "Leave him alone! What is wrong with you two? Do you think you can just gang up on someone like that?"

"He insulted Sirius!" James argued.

"He wouldn't have if you two had just left him alone. I saw what happened. So he was in a hurry to get to class and knocked into you. Only you two immature idiots would take that as an excuse to show off that you can do magic!" she shouted. "How is it okay that you lot can shove people out of your way when you're just strolling along and he can't push you by accident for a good reason? And he didn't even insult _you_, Potter. You started this fight; you threw the first jinx!"

"Well he insulted my best mate, now! I'm not going to just stand by and take that!" James shot back.

Lily pulled her own wand out. "You're insulting mine now. I'm not going to stand by and take that either." She glared at all of us and threw Remus (who was looking down at his shoes) a disappointed glare as well.

James considered Lily for a moment. I was seething but this fight, like all others involving Snape, was between James and Lily now. Finally he lowered his wand. "I can't hex a girl, Evans. My parents raised me to have better manners than that."

She snorted. "I'd make a scathing comment but _my_ parents actually raised me to _use_ the manners they taught me." James' face fell; it was obvious he'd been hoping Lily would be impressed by this sudden show of chivalry.

"Come on, Sev. Let's go inside," she said, offering a hand to Snape. He took her hand and pulled himself up, throwing us all dirty looks. Suddenly, he dropped her hand.

"I'm fine, Evans. I don't need your help," he said loudly and strode into the classroom.

Lily looked confused and rather hurt for a moment. She looked behind her and something behind us made her eyes widen in understanding. I didn't miss the look of annoyance that crossed her face however. I turned around to find the other Slytherins coming down the passage and shook my head. I didn't understand why Evans wanted to be friends with that slimy git at all.

We filed into the dungeon and took our seats. Soon, class started and apart from flicking the occasional beetle's eye or dragon liver at Snivelly, the hour passed quietly. Well, Peter managed to set off a display of multi-coloured sparks from his cauldron in the middle so it wasn't _too_ quiet. But in all, it was turning out to be an average Monday. We sat through class after class, got yelled at for being noisy once or twice but it wasn't too eventful.

We had a History of Magic lesson after lunch. A nice heavy meal combined with Binns' soporific voice had most of the class dozing off in minutes. I lounged in my chair and looked around the class. Most of the students were asleep or doing whatever they wanted.

I could see Evans in the front of the class. That girl was a bundle of contradictions. She was smart, somewhat pretty and a Prefect. Yet, she didn't mind pulling stunts like the firecracker incident of the morning. She had a sense of humour and house pride yet, she yelled at us when we pranked the Slytherins. She was a Muggleborn who hated the prejudice against her, yet she was friends with a Slytherin and constantly defended him. She loved watching Quidditch and cheered madly at every Gryffindor game, yet she hated flying. She could have been cool and popular, but she insisted on keeping all the rules and not getting into trouble and trying to hide herself most of time, preferring to work from the background. She was sitting upright in her chair, listening intently even in the most boring class invented! Above all, she hated James and wouldn't give him the time of day and my best mate just had to take a fancy to her. In fact, I couldn't see what he saw in her. She was far too uptight, too rigid when she made up her mind and too stubborn for my liking. I didn't mind her, but she wasn't the kind of girl I'd want to hang out with, she was too serious about things. She liked being _normal_ too much; she didn't have enough excitement in her life, in my opinion.

Beside her, her best friend, Alice Smith was playing hangman with their other friend, Mary Macdonald. Alice was a nice sweet girl. She could be extremely fierce at times but most of the time, she was a bundle of energy; always running around doing something or the other. She could never sit still. Mary on the other hand, was quiet and shy. She was a Muggleborn too. She was usually the one who would calm Lily down whenever she got into fights with James. She was like the Remus of their group.

The other Gryffindor girl in their circle of friends was Marlene McKinnon who was currently fast asleep on the desk. Now _she_ was more my type of girl. She had a strange sense of humour and sarcasm, she didn't get along with Snape at all and she was a Chaser for the Quidditch team. She was strong and had a high intolerance for nonsense. She was a hard worker, serious about doing well in her exams but not as naturally intelligent as Lily or Alice.

And then there was us. Remus was sitting beside me, listening to Binns as intently as Lily. James was playing Exploding Snap as quietly as possible with Peter on my other side. We were smart, we were cool and we were confident; we were everything all the other kids in the school wanted to be.

Class passed quietly (apart from the small explosions from Peter's and James' game that I joined in after James' eyebrows were in too much danger of disappearing for him to continue playing) and the last bell of the day rang finally. Remus, James and Peter went ahead to the Great Hall while I made a quick stop to the bathroom. When I caught up to them, James and Lily were in the middle of a full blown row in the Entrance Hall.

"I don't care what house he's in Potter, you can't just hex an eleven-year-old!" Lily shrieked.

"He called you a red-haired – I don't even want to say it again, I don't know where he picked up that language! I was trying to help you!" James tried to reason with her.

"He was talking to _me_! I wasn't really insulted by his words, why did _you_ have to jump in to defend my honour or whatever stupid idea that popped into your head?"

"I was trying to help!"

"I didn't need your help! You really are an idiot, Potter!"

"Wow, thanks Evans, you really know how to make a guy feel good about himself." James ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

"You can't just go around hexing everyone who's smaller or weaker than you! If you want to duel, why don't you pick on someone your own size?" Lily demanded.

"I was just trying to be a gentleman! I couldn't very well walk past after hearing that kid say something like that!" James countered.

"Gentleman? Well, let me tell you - "

I shook my head as the two argued. It would be a few minutes before Mary or Remus or one of the teachers stepped in before someone used their wand. I was about to go down there myself when someone spoke beside me.

"Potter really is an idiot."

I turned around to find the last person I wanted to see. Ludo Bagman.

"What do you know about him, Bagman?" I said rudely. I still didn't like the git for winning _two_ bets over me.

"Enough to say that he'll never get Evans, that's for sure," chuckled Bagman.

"You're wrong. James is a wonderful person and Evans will see that soon enough," I retorted.

That manic gleam appeared in Bagman's eyes suddenly. "Are you sure, Sirius? Do you know your friends so well?"

"Yes I do," I said stoutly.

"Are you willing to bet on it?"

"Yeah! And I know there's no way I'll lose this time!"

"Excellent! So I'd say that if Potter and Evans ever become a couple before we leave school, I'll go on a date with…let's see…how about Professor Dumbledore? You'll have to do the same if they don't. Do we have a deal?" Bagman held out his hand.

I shook it firmly. "Deal."

It was only after Bagman walked away laughing that I turned around to find James and Evans still shouting at each other. What was I thinking? I couldn't win that bet! Heck, _I _was the one telling James every day that there were other fish in the sea! What had I just agreed to? My routine and everyone else's would be entirely spoiled if I had to try and get those two stubborn idiots together!

Ah well, routine was boring. I was going to stir things up a little bit. There was no way those two would get together without help and I'd have to provide that little push.

And there was no way I was going on a date with Dumbledore either. Ludo Bagman was going to lose a bet for the first time in Hogwarts' history.

* * *

><p><strong>First of all, I hope you liked it! Please, please review and let me know what you thought! I'd love to get at least five reviews with your feedback :)<strong>

**This chapter was from Sirius' POV. Did it seem believable and in character? Let me know!**

**Now a couple of things about this story. I'm experimenting with writing styles so each chapter will be from the POV of a different character. I will not mention who the character is but I will make it pretty obvious and I'll put a little note at the end like the one above. I may have more than character narrating in a chapter if required but I will always make the switch clear with a line or an X-X-X or a marker of some sort. **

**If anyone has ideas about all the funny stuff that Sirius might try in order to get James and Lily together, let me know and I might add it if I think it fits in the plot I have written out. :)**

**Finally, this is for Forever Siriusly Sirius' competition on HPFC so you can expect at least one update a month or more for sure. The next chapter should be up next week or the week after that hopefully! Thank you for reading and hope to see you back then :)**


End file.
